Arkansas bridge's fans lose high court appeal as ruling allows razing; state sets timeline within ‘weeks’

The old White River Bridge at Clarendon is shown in this file photo.
The old White River Bridge at Clarendon is shown in this file photo.

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed an appeal from a group that has fought for years to save an old bridge over the White River at Clarendon from demolition.

The 6-1 decision by the court will allow the Arkansas Department of Transportation to "proceed with the demolition project as contracted," an agency spokesman said Thursday.

"We anticipate establishing a timeline for this within the next three to four weeks," said the spokesman, Danny Straessle, in a statement.

The U.S. 79 bridge, built in 1931, has been the subject of a preservation effort undertaken by residents in Clarendon for several years. Efforts ramped up after the bridge closed in 2016 when a new span was built south of town.

Both spans run through sections of federal lands in the Cache and White River national wildlife refuges.

As part of an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that allowed the new bridge to be built, the Transportation Department agreed to demolish the old bridge, restore the site's natural topography and re-establish native hardwood trees.

Supporters of the bridge, meanwhile, have rallied to have it preserved and adapted for cyclists and pedestrians, as part of a planned bike route from Little Rock to Memphis.

A nonprofit group, the Friends of the Historic White River Bridge at Clarendon, had been formed to raise support for preservation. Last August, the group announced a plan to refurbish the bridge at a cost of $5 million, should the bridge be saved.

"It's just disappointing that this beautiful bridge may have to come down now," said Clarendon Mayor James Stinson III. "There's just no reason for it."

Stinson's wife, Phyllis Stinson, was one of eight plaintiffs who sued the Department of Transportation in an effort to stop the demolition. Last July, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza dismissed the case, ruling that the highway department was protected from the suit by the Arkansas Constitution's strict approach toward sovereign -- or state -- immunity.

On appeal to the Arkansas Supreme Court, the plaintiffs argued that the department's $10.8 million contract to demolish the bridge amounted to an illegal exaction not protected by sovereign immunity. The court's majority, however, rejected that argument and affirmed Piazza's ruling Thursday.

"The complaint does not allege any wrongdoing on the part of the state at all. Instead, it alleges that [U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service] took advantage of the Department's highway-expansion project to force unreasonable terms on the state and attempts to assert various contract defenses on the state's behalf," Justice Robin Wynne wrote for the majority. "This is not sufficient to establish a claim for an illegal exaction."

The majority decision was supported by a concurring opinion of Justice Karen Baker, a critic of the court's past ruling on sovereign immunity who said the court's precedent should have made the highway department immune from suit.

A sole dissent, penned by Justice Josephine "Jo" Hart, dispatched with the Transportation Department's argument that the demolition was necessary, pointing out that a 14-year-old compatibility study on the project had expired.

"According to the taxpayers, we are about to spend $10.8 million to blow up a piece of our state's history that does not need to be blown up, and if the powers that be would simply replace their expired compatibility determination with a new one as legally required, they would be forced to acknowledge as much," Hart wrote.

John Gill, an attorney for the preservationists, also raised concerns about the expired compatibility study but in a phone call Thursday afternoon conceded that it is up to the Department of Transportation whether to continue with the planned demolition.

"The Supreme Court is not going to stop them," Gill said.

Metro on 06/07/2019

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